Veterans Community Café welcomes MSPs to Stafford Centre

The Veterans Community Cafe welcomed two members of the Scottish Government's Cabinet to the Stafford Centre last week - Maureen Watt, the Minister for Mental Health and Keith Brown, Veterans Cabinet Secretary,

The two MSPs were shown round the Stafford Centre by Keith Mackenzie, Project Manager for the Veterans Community Cafe, and then took part in a Tai Chi session.

The Veterans Community Cafe - part-funded by Support in Mind Scotland thanks to a grant from the Scottish Veterans Fund - continues to go from strength to strength and attracts up to 50 people to its meetings each week, including people who have served in the Army, RAF, Royal Navy and Royal Marines and families of serving personnel.

The Café, run by Keith Mackenzie (Veterans & AAF Buddhist Chaplain Scotland), has been meeting at the Stafford Centre for nearly two years, initially through crowd funding then through SVF funding since April 2017.

The cafe promotes mindfulness and peer support and complements a 10-week mindfulness programme and 5-day residential retreats for veterans.

Weekly evening cafe sessions have grown in popularity and support beneficiaries from all over Scotland. Keith also holds weekly 1-to-1 sessions and a weekly yoga class, as well as a popular 36-week yoga programme on Thursday evenings with teachers from Community Yoga Outreach.

Film-maker and former Royal Marines Commando Matt Jones has linked up with Napier University to produce a short documentary on the Veterans Community Cafe, which you can view below.

For further information about the Veterans Community Cafe, contact Keith Mackenzie on 07764 765291

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